Safari tales...

So on a lighter note as I complete my time here at Tenwek, I want to tell you all about my one little excursion while here. A group of us went on safari two weekends ago, as many of those who come here to work tend to do. We went to a place called Masai Mara. It was fantastic!
Technically you stay there in tents, but man oh man the tents! It’s basically a hotel room with tent canvas walls. It’s on a concrete slab and has electricity and hot water for the shower. The bed was beautiful, and the mosquito netting around it was almost romantic-looking. I could definitely see why people would vacation there. They had a pool and patio dining for lunch. Breakfast and dinner was indoors, but the “lodge” was very handsomely designed by itself.
The day we arrived we were escorted to our tents to freshen up a bit before the first “game run” of the weekend. Now, no hunting is allowed so I guess it’s odd they still call it a game run, but old habits die hard I suppose. So we meet up and divide up into our “cars” for the weekend, as we’ll have the same driver the whole time. Someone in my group was smart enough to ask for one of the “open” landrovers so that you can just look out the side without having to stand up to get an unobstructed view. The first game run was fantastic. It started by us seeing some little gazelles called Dik-Dik (because they always come in pairs)…warning, I’m not sure if I’m spelling any of these names correctly… Then we saw some antelope-creatures called Topi. Then in the distance we spotted some elephants. It was interesting to hear the native Kenyan’s take on elephants. They actually don’t like them much. They are very dangerous as they can easily kill a man and they destroy trees which can destroy habitat. That said, they are part of the “Big five” for a reason. The big five are the five most dangerous animals to be seen on safari. They include Elephants, leopards, lions, rhino, and buffalo (here the cape buffalo). We also saw giraffes shortly after the elephant. We ranged all over and I was definitely turned around by the time it was all over, but it was great. We saw Thompson and grant gazelles (slightly different sizes and colorations). We saw wildebeasts (also know as gnus), several birds that I’m sorry I forgot the names of at the moment. It started to rain part-way into that first game run and as we were going along a cheetah was spotted under a tree. We were able to get close and take some really good pictures. We eventually headed back to the lodge for dinner and bedtime.
The second day began with a very nice gentleman greeting me from the outside of my tent with a nice “Jambo” which is kinda the touristy hello in Swahili and a wonderful cup of Kenyan coffee! (I will definitely miss that wake-up call). The day then started with a morning game run at 6:30. That morning we were, I suppose you’d say lucky, and spotted a lion in some bushes. My land rover had looped around in order to get a better view and take pictures when he decided to get up and move…he proceeded to walk right in front of our vehicles and sedately walk into the bushes on the other side…oh my, that was exciting to say the least. We later saw a lioness with four cubs, which apparently is a large litter and isn’t often seen. We saw rhinos that morning, vultures (3 kinds), and an eagle just to name a few. So at this point we’d seen four of the big five…just missing the leopard.
We then headed back to the lodge for breakfast and a break for the morning. The pool was wonderful (and doubly nice to know I wouldn’t get any surprises in the water…). Before starting our game run, we went to a local village of the native Masai people. It was interesting to see how they live and what their lives are like, but it was a very touristy experience. It was a lot like they were putting on the show and we were spectaters. I wish I could go to a village like that and really get to know them well, but at that time it was just not the setup. They're a semi-nomadic people. they build these very small houses, term is rather relative, out of mud, cow dung, and wood supports. They stay in the same area for about 7-10 years then move on to better grazing areas for their cattle and build new homes. It was neat and somewhat sad to see the conditions they live in, because as a doctor I definitely saw the lack of sanitation and couldn't help but feel for these people. They also have a small "market" where they sell trade items like carvings and beadwork and fabric. It's over priced, but you're supposed to bargain and it goes to help support the school that the children attend nearby and help those families of widows and orphans in the tribe.
After leaving there, we went for the afternoon game drive, about 3 hours out looking at God’s gift of creation, and this time we saw another male lion and got incredibly close. We also saw hyena, jackal, ostrich, baboons, more vultures, of course more gazelles/zebras/antelope/wildebeests/cape buffalo/giraffes. It was so much fun and amazing. It’s neat being out early and late in the day because the colors as the sun rises and sets are phenomenal.
We got back and played some cards before having another great meal for dinner (barbeque!) and turning in for the night.
The final morning we were there was interesting. The night before it had rained (we are in the rainey season right now) and the roads were already muddy, but now even worse. Thankfully land rovers can handle a bit of mud. We were seeing a lot of animals and ranging all over when one of the land rovers got stuck in a large area of mud. Our driver had actually just gone through that area, but we must have been lucky because the next one didn’t make it. So it was quite entertaining as we watched our fellow safari mates stuck in the mud. Thankfully with some chains and a bit of pulling by our rover, they were unstuck and able to continue on safari. We ended that morning with going to an area of the river that flows through the conservation land that the hippos love. There were so many of them! It was amazing and you could see more of them than normally in deeper areas of the river. Its neat how they go underwater and all you can see are their nostrils and then they come up and snort and flick their little ears (granted I’m sure little here is rather relative to their size).
After the last game drive we headed back, cleaned up, and checked out. Normally the driver would have been there at 1030am to pick us up to go back to Tenwek, but because of the roads they had hoped to be there by noon. I think they finally got there at 1pm or so. We were riding in this van things that are used for public transportation here called Matatus (again, not sure on the spelling). They’re pretty sturdy vehicles, but even the best isn’t up to a lot of mud. So on the way out they got stuck a few times and some of the wonderful guys in my van helped out with pushing and we made it through.
It was a great blessing of a weekend to really appreciate God’s creation and just marvel at the wonder of it all. It was also nice to have a rest before coming back to a rather busy and stressful week with many ups and downs. I of course of tons of pictures and have some of the others as well and will post some of mine as soon as I get back and can…(internet here doesn’t handle us uploading pictures very well).
I will write some more of my final days here within the next day or two, but I figured I’d make good on my promise of tales from safari.
I miss all of you back home and hope everyone is staying healthy!